China is expected to begin testing a SARS vaccine on humans by the end of December, after trials on monkeys showed the vaccine could prevent infections, according to state media.

Monkeys who were innoculated with the vaccine had no serious side effects after they were exposed to the potentially deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, the Xinhua news agency said.

The State Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve clinical tests of the vaccine by the end of the year, Xinhua quoted Yin Hongzhang, head of the Administration's biological product section, as saying.

If everything goes according to plan, China will be leading the world in the search for the first vaccine against the pneumonia-like respiratory illness, Yin said.

China has so far produced about 1400 shots of the vaccine and another 20,000 shots will be packaged and inspected by quality control experts soon.

Scientists at the Beijing Kexing Bio-product Co. began to develop the vaccine at the end of April during an outbreak of SARS in mainland China.

Medical experts around the world have warned SARS may be seasonal and might return this winter, putting China on alert against a resurgence.

The Ministry of Health, however, said so far there have been neither clinically confirmed nor suspected SARS cases in mainland China since August 16, when the last SARS patient in the mainland was discharged from hospital.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had said earlier this month that a vaccine against the SARS virus would take at least two years to develop.

The first clinical trial on a test vaccine could begin in January but successful development would take far longer to complete, the WHO said.

A resurgence of SARS may accelerate the process and result in a vaccine within two years, WHO said.

SARS originally emerged in south China's Guangdong province at the end of last year, and eventually struck 32 countries, infecting some 8,000 people and killing close to 800 -- mostly in Asia -- before subsiding in the middle of this year.

China was worse hit by SARS than any other country, accounting for 349 fatalities and 5327 infections.